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Too much milk?

DS is now 11 weeks and is taking at least 36 oz of formula per 24 hours. He is 12.7 lbs so should be on about a max of 31 (according to the 2 1/2 times body weight rule). This is me having to stop him and coping with uncontrollable crying when I do so. He seems so hungry all the time. I don't think I am misreading his signals because nothing else will pacify him and when he gets the bottle he glugs down the lot without sicking any back up. Do I keep giving him what he wants? or do I need to control it by letting him scream at me (usually until he is so exhaused he falls asleep). I've recently moved from breast feeding because i was convinced he wasn't getting enough from me, but we now seem to have the same problem with formula. Can I introduce water yet to perhaps quench his thirst a bit? I am so worried about overfeeding him.

First thing to say is that I bottle fed both my girls but bizarrely I can remember practically nothing about what quantities they were taking at various ages etc so I don't think I'm going to be a lot of help.........

What I would say is that unless you have a real reason to be concerned e.g. your HV/GP has said your DS is very over weight etc (highly unlikely at 11 weeks I would think?), I wouldn't worry too much about over feeding. If he seems genuinely hungry, I'd feed him. He could be going through a growth spurt maybe and is more hungry at the moment?

If you're concerned, give your HV a ring, and see what she says - I'm sure you're doing a grand job and hopefully the HV will just be able to give you a bit more confidence about what you're doing - if only all babies came with a manual eh?!

We bottle fed on demand and if I remember rightly at about 12 weeks she was on about 5 7oz bottles per day. I think they do have a growth spurt around this age. Which is why they feed more frequently. I would write down exactly what he is having and when he's having it and see if there's any pattern and see if it calms down a bit. If it does you'll know that he's got a growth spurt coming on.

You also says he falls asleep after screaming at you, could it be that he's tired rather than hungry maybe?

I would firstly feed on demand and let him realise that milk is going to be there when he asks for it. If it doesn't calm down and its a growth spurt then maybe try putting him down for a nap earlier.

My HV and Neonatal outreach worker said to just let them take what they want too and if they appear unsatisfied, too alert rather than full and contented or still searching then they're not having enough. I was feeding as per their weight and trying to string them out to four hourly which is what they were on when they came home from NICU but this wasn't working and they weren't gaining enough weight and were often unsettled. I've since increased their feeds and feed them more frequently if they appear hungry and I now put more than their quota in the bottle and let them take what they want and they've come on fantastically in the last week.

Hi Deb
Firstly I've no children so maybe my advice isn't any good but I work in a pharmacy and we have formula's for hungry babies, maybe you could give that a go, as far as I know the the formula is the same amounts as normal baby food but this one fills the baby for longer?
Hope this helps xxx

Only thing I would say about hungrier baby milk is it canmake them constipated. My LO was feeding frequently and it was just a growth spurt. Even the follow on milk you can give from 6 months is different and made my LO constipated so ended up going bak to normal milk.

Feeding on demand is great as baby learns themselves to regulate their hunger. If you were breastfeeding they would be feeding more frequently during growth spurts.

the hungry baby one was a god send for bubs. he was mainly bottle fed and fed constantly, wouldnt settle etc -switched to hungry baby milk at around10wks and bingo. he settled down a lot easier.
i never found constipation a problem. i used cow & gate with 2 of my DSs. i used sma with 1st DS and he did get constipated so then switched to cow & gate n used it ever since.
my 1st DS was a hungry baby and was weaned from 12wks (old rules hes 15 now) and i wish id done the same with bubs.